A lifetime of service and giving

Martha Fuller Clark grew up surrounded by people who cared deeply for the land and landscapes around them, inspired by women who made themselves heard and made public service a priority, and shaped by art and history and beauty.

Her own life and service and philanthropy have long been expressions of all of those things.

She describes her mother, Marion Fuller Brown, as “A force to be reckoned with. If you knew her, you knew where you stood with her. She was not easily intimidated.” Marion served as a state representative in Maine and sponsored legislation that banned billboards in the Pine Tree State. She would become a founder of the York Land Trust and the national nonprofit Scenic America — where Martha still serves on the board.

Martha’s father, Henry Fuller, was a farmer and lawyer whom Martha describes fondly as “more eccentric. He would go into court with his work clothes on.”
Martha left her family’s farm in Maine to study art history and then earn a master’s in architectural history at Boston University.

“I became enamored with buildings, and how they embodied a lot of our culture and history,” she said. She worked as a lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York before moving to Boston and meeting her husband, Dr. Geoffrey Clark. Geoffrey went into private practice in Dover and the couple moved to Portsmouth in 1973.

Martha described mid-1970s Portsmouth as “a little dreary.”

Her efforts and the couple’s philanthropy would help transform New Hampshire’s port city. Martha was instrumental in the preservation of Strawbery Banke, now a nationally known historic district and tourist draw. Through their fund at the Foundation, the Clarks have been stalwart supporters of the now-vibrant local arts scene, historic preservation, land conservation and much more. Geoffrey, who had been an entrepreneur and inventor, as well as a physician who was active on many nonprofit boards, died in 2023.

The Clark family’s philanthropy has had a statewide reach — with generous giving from a donor-advised fund for everything from hunger relief to mental health, reproductive and women’s health, housing and shelter, school funding fairness, public media, environmental conservation and more.

Giving is just one expression of Martha’s service to community. Martha’s friend, state Rep. Pat Sanderson, reached out to her one day in the late 1980s. The two had served together on the board of Strawbery Banke. Pat was dying of cancer — and encouraged Martha to run for her seat.

“Women don’t often step out publicly until they are asked to,” Martha said. Martha ran, was elected, and served for most of the next 30 years — six terms in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and seven terms in the State Senate.

As a legislator, Martha led in the creation and funding of the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program — which has invested $68.5 million since 2000 in preserving historic buildings and conserving land in communities across the state. And she was a consistent champion of the environment, civil rights, health care, education and reproductive rights.

Martha was also a founding board member of the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation — which has been a strong voice in encouraging women to run for office.

“I am proud of my work on women’s issues,” Martha said and then, with a laugh, “I wasn’t even a women’s libber. I wasn’t out there demonstrating or involved in movements — it snuck up on me.”

In 2025, and with an increasing sense of urgency about the state of our civic health, Martha created the Geoffrey E. Clark and Martha Fuller Clark Fund for Civic Health and Public Policy at the Foundation. The field-of-interest fund will support civic health, engagement and advocacy.

The Clarks have given through the Foundation over decades. The Foundation provides generous people with a range of options for how their funds will be invested to grow, so more resources are available to support nonprofit work. Since the Clarks had a longstanding relationship with Ballentine Partners, they elected to have their advisors there continue to manage their charitable assets. (See below)

The Foundation’s Melinda Mosier has long advised the Clarks’ philanthropy.

“She keeps me well-informed as to the critical needs and what I should be paying attention to,” Martha said. She is an excellent advisor.” Melinda also works with the Clarks’ three children, Anna, Than and Caleb, on the family’s giving. Martha said it is important to her that the next generation carry forward the values that inspired and shaped her and Geoffrey.

“I hope,” she said, “that they continue the work that my husband and I have cared so much about.”

ADVISOR-MANAGED OPTION: Keep your investment manager and get expert grantmaking help

The Foundation is committed to stewarding philanthropic resources to do the most good for today — and tomorrow.

Some generous people create charitable funds at the Foundation, benefitting from our extensive grantmaking experience, while still having those charitable assets managed by their own investment manager.

This option is available for most types of charitable funds with an initial gift of $250,000 or more. Assets can be transferred from a private foundation, a donor-advised fund held elsewhere, cash or securities. The Foundation will also consider gifts of non-cash assets, such as real estate and closely held stock.

For more information, contact Melinda Mosier, vice president for donor engagement and philanthropy services, at 603-225-6641 ext. 266 or zryvaqn.zbfvre@aups.bet.